Andromeda.
Andromeda · Ethiopian princess
An Ethiopian princess chained to a cliff to appease a sea-monster — and the rescue that took her to the stars.
Daughter of King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia of Aethiopia. Wife of Perseus. Placed among the stars as the constellation Andromeda.
Andromeda · Andromeda · Ethiopian princess
Daughter of King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia of Aethiopia. Wife of Perseus. Placed among the stars as the constellation Andromeda.
Andromeda was the only daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia, the king and queen of Aethiopia. Her mother Cassiopeia, vain about her beauty, claimed she and Andromeda were more lovely than the Nereids — the fifty sea-nymphs of Poseidon. The boast travelled fast.
Poseidon, hearing it, sent a great sea-monster (Cetus) to ravage the Aethiopian coast. The oracle of Ammon told Cepheus the only way to lift the curse was to expose his daughter to the beast. Andromeda was stripped of her royal robes, chained to a sea-cliff, and left as a sacrifice — naked but for the iron at her wrists.
"Stripped of her royal robes, chained to the sea-cliff, she was left as a sacrifice to the monster sent by Poseidon."
Perseus, returning from killing Medusa with the head still in his bag, saw her from the air. He flew down, killed the sea-monster (some sources say with his sword, others by showing the Gorgon's head), and broke the chains. Andromeda became his wife and the mother of seven children, including Perses, ancestor of the Persians. After her death Athena placed her among the stars, where she remains chained — but next to the husband who freed her.
Where this comes from.
Mythology
- Apollodorus Bibliotheca 2.4.3
- Ovid Metamorphoses 4.663–803
- Hyginus Fabulae 64, Astronomica 2.10–2.11
Paintings & illustrations
- Perseus and Andromeda — Edward Burne-Jones (c. 1876) · Wikimedia · PD
- Andromeda Chained to the Rocks — Rembrandt van Rijn (1630–1631) · Wikimedia · PD
- Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Camelopardalis (Urania's Mirror) — Sidney Hall (engraver), Jehoshaphat Aspin (text) (1825) · Wikimedia · PD
For fun · sources cited. We don’t publish horoscopes, personality readings, or compatibility takes — just astronomy + classical mythology, with public-domain art where available. See all 88 constellations.